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Sunday, 10 April 2011

Weekly update


My largest Onion has loved this good weather and has grown to 8" circumferance with another not far behind.


I have thinned some of my shallots down to 4,these were the ones I got last year from Smithyveg they were the largest of my stock and some had divided in to 6. The trick is to remove the surplus shallot shoots and leave 4, these should be opposite each other leaving a symmetrical plant this gives the remaining bulbs space to grow, you may have to remove a larger bulb to get a symmetrical plant but it will be worth it in the end you need to remove the old decaying bulb as well. the end result should look like the photo below.
I used the thinning's for a lovely salad this evening as I do not enter any shows with a pickling shallots


My first sowing of Parsnips in the drums are now ready for thinning as they have their first true leaves.

The Onion setts that were planted last November have really moved on in the last couple of weeks I have had to straighten a few as they were loose in the compost and leaning so i used some small canes to support them.  

5 comments:

  1. Well,unfortunately I seem to be growing your cracking plants on like an utter Spaz !
    I have leaves going almost fluorescent yellow which is new to me.
    I'm hoping it's just a bit of cold and excessive heat as the new leaves are dark green.
    Other than that It's dodgy shite bagged topsoil or my over exuberance with the fertilizer.
    Anyway your's look F##king amazing at this time of year so you'll be entering the heavy onion class at Harrogate and stuffing Mr Glazebrook it seems.
    You utter Bastow ...LOL

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  2. They are cracking mate
    You are going to have to write down your method for me as mine were a total disaster in my first year of trying. All dead, either over watered, under watered or wrong mix, too big a pots etc etc
    You name the mistake and I made it

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  3. Dan I only did what you reccomended loads of cow sh@t and some tev and seaweed meal they get a watering once a week which contains some bio magic seaweed stuff that Smithy brought me from Scotland.The only thing that I can think of is the route you took home. ie. going through Lancashire may have upset them LOL.
    Darren no secrets just trial and error sown in Westland John Innes seed sowing compost in November 24 hour light for 6 weeks potted on when needed in to John Innes potting on compost I stand them in the Large Gravel trays from Wilkinsons which enables me to water them from underneath. It seems to have worked although the Quality Onions are a bit leggy, I think this is down to not potting on as regularly as the large ones due to limited space.

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  4. Well I'll by some plants off you next season

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  5. Cracking onion, looks like your method's working alright!

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